Call Centre Crisis

So today we hear of yet another local call centre calling it quits.

First Beauty Rock closes it's doors, then suddenly Teleperformance (MCCI) also closes down (temporarily or otherwise), and today word that Tele-Tech in Trenton is done as of the end of August.

This is the sad reality of the recession that we are in. Call Centres, just like every other business, are all about the bottom line and when the profit margins are just not there it is time to close up shop or relocate to an area with much cheaper labour and overhead costs.

Being a veteran of the call centre industry, I cannot say that much of this comes as a surprise.

Well prior to the recession the writing was on the wall. The lure of a low Canadian Dollar is no longer there (even though the dollar dropped back to the 80 cent mark for a while). The rise in minimum wage has also tightened the margins. Now throw in the recession and customers cutting back on non essential spending and you have less need for tech support, customer care, etc.

Sadly, a lot of good people will be out of work. You know who you are. Sorry but if you are one of the ones who had to call in sick at least once a week then....no you are not one of the good people. To those good people I wish you all the best of luck. Remain positive, take advantage of the government training available to you. Update your skills and believe in yourself. There are companies out there that do value hard workers, those with a work ethic and those willing to learn. Keep working hard.

Now to the others that were always calling in sick or coming in late, or complaining that everything sucked....you are in NO POSITION to complain....in a way, you kind of got what you wanted....didn't you??? Really, if you had a hard time going to work everyday and hated what you did, don't you think life just did you a favor? Not saying that I have liked every job I have ever had, far from it....pretty much hated all but a couple. But I managed to come to work EVERYDAY, sick or not!!

So to those of you out there that came to work everyday, put in a good days work and kept the complaining to a minimum who currently find yourselves out of work or soon to be out of work - my thoughts are with you, remain positive and use this opportunity to find something you enjoy doing. Life has a funny way of giving us gentle (or not so gentle) nudges in the right direction.

In my humble opinion you will start to see a lot more home based remote agent type jobs become the common place. It makes sense, you can reward the agents by both allowing them to work from home and by their productivity in the form of high wages for higher performers. Companies will save a fortune by cutting out most of the overhead costs and management. Until that time.....do not fret...it's just another bump in the road of life.

To my many followers ;) - I promise, back to the more amusing and comical posts tomorrow.

Cheers,